The Christmas Singles, Manos Wild Released 2022 on Velvet Records December 2022 Manos Wild and his backing band, Breathless come from Greece and have been prolific with their output of rockabilly, swing and standards from the 50s since they started in 2006. This album is a 30 track collection of Christmas songs, some standards and some self-penned from the years 2013 to 2021. Most of the tracks have been available before but there are a couple of new ones. Thirty Christmas tracks is possibly more than enough for some but the variety of styles and quality of the recordings make this an interesting listen although I feel that it would be kept in the drawer for 11 months of the year. Review Track Listing 1. It's Christmas Eve After All – reminds me of Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas” 2. Rockin' Christmas Time – A good seasonal bopper, one of my favourite tracks on this CD. 3. A Letter To Santa - a nice danceable track but the backing vocals are a bit too prominent for me. 4. I'll Be Home For Christmas – A nice “Elvis style” ballad. 5. A Lonely New Year's Eve – I’m not sure what the noise is at the start of the track, it might be the sound of a clock ticking. Another ballad. 6. Home for The Holidays – Once this track gets going it is a pleasant 1940s crooner style song. 7. Please Santa – Another slow start, but danceable enough when it gets going. 8. The Little Christmas Tree – Another Elvis style ballad, pass the egg nog! 9. You're All I Want For Christmas – Originally issued as a single in 2016, another ballad. 10. The Reindeer Hop! – A rocking piano drives this track along nicely. 11. Jingle Bells – A rocking version of this timeless tune. 12. The Christmas Blues – A bluesy number as the title suggests. 13. Blue Christmas – A single from 2019. A nice version of the song made famous by Elvis. 14. A Winter Romance – Waltz around the Christmas tree to this. 15. Christmas With A Tear - Arrgh, the bells! The bells! I just found this ballad a bit OTT. 16. Jingle Bells Are Gonna Rock! – The most frantic rocker and a nice counterpoint to the ballads. 17. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day – The backing vocals are impressive, but a bit too dramatic for me on this ballad. 18. Mistletoe & Holly – More pleasant crooning. 19. Santa Claus Is Blue – A nice up-tempo track which also reminds of Mud. 20. An Old Christmas Card – This is a B side from 2019, the spoken bit in the middle lets it down for me. 21. My Christmas Wish – Skip the slow star, just go to the main body of this up-tempo track. 22. Happy New Tear - Bells and fireworks start this track and a yes, it is TEAR, not YEAR. 23. Christmas Time Again! – A nice enough track, but the backing vocals spoil it for me. 24. The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot – A rather dramatic start to this track that doesn’t really work for me, I think this could be a case where less is more with regards to the instrumentation. 25. White Christmas – Bing has nothing to worry about! 26. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) – My favourite track, nice slap bass and a good rhythm. 27. Christmas Without You – Full of angst and not for me. 28. The Christmas Song – A previously unreleased version and definitely not a patch on Nat King Cole’s version. 29. Here Comes Santa Claus – A nice enough rocking version of this classic. 30. An Old -Fashioned Christmas – A brave attempt, but I am afraid I will still go with Frank Sinatra’s version. Manos clearly loves Christmas as he has done three other seasonal albums. Maybe too many old-style ballads for me, but definitely worth adding to your Christmas playlist. MANOS WILD is a Greek singer /songwriter. He started his singing career with the rockabilly band Breathless in Thessaloniki, Greece. They released their first song "What To Do" on 2006 from Onstage Records and their 2nd effort came the same year with the song "Out Of Your Door". Their debut album "FIRST TAKE" came out on 2008 and sold strongly inside and outside Greece all over Europe, (England, Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany and Spain) plus few copies in the USA while their first Official video clip "Cruisin' For Bruisin'" Charted at #1 in the US Daily motion on December 2012! Manos Wild has appeared numerous times in the National network in Greek TV as much as in Radio shows and Breathless have played a lot of gigs all over Greece. (Among them 2 Elvis Tribute Shows in great acceptance plus a participation in the ARK Festival one of the biggest festivals in the Country). They have also performed twice in Sofia, Bulgaria where they also appeared in the National Bulgarian TV Network. In 2017 the second album of Breathless "ADAM & EVIL" was released from OnStage Records again in great response so far! Another video clip with the song “So Wrong" from the new album was released a few months ago. Apart from that Manos started his solo career as a singer and composer in 2013 due to his will to also sing other kinds of music apart from rockabilly (mainly covers in old Easy Listening and Vocal Jazz/ Swing songs). Another reason was the fact that he kept writing so many songs that it would be very difficult to record them all with Breathless. Manos Wild started his solo career in 2013 with the digital single "Rhythm Of Teddy Boy / Flip It Over" while his first solo album was released in April 2014 entitled "SWING & ROMANCE" a collection of old romantic swing /vocal jazz tunes and until today he has released no less than 15 albums that include 4 pure rockabilly albums ,a couple of swing /vocal jazz albums, one Orchestral album ,one instrumental album , three albums with covers in old ballads , one Gospel album , one album of torch songs (mostly County ballads, '50s pop music and early Rock & Roll songs) plus 2 Christmas albums. Apart from these releases he has also released more than 30 singles and 8 EP's (The last 2 EP's "A TOUCH OF ELVIS" include covers in Elvis Presley's classics) . All of his work is published worldwide in digital form via iTunes -amazon.mp3-spotify-deezer-emusic -Google Play -Bandcamp and other platforms. All his albums are also sold in physical CD form through order in Amazon.com. Manos Wild keeps on performing live with Breathless while he still writes new material for future releases too!
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